Ice cube ejection means



Jan. 13, 1959 w. H. WElNRlCH ETAL ICE CUBE EJECTION MEANS Filed July 16, 1956 Unite ICE CUBE EJECTION MEANS 7 Claims. (Cl. 62-364) This invention relates to an arrangement for facilitating the ejection of ice cubes from an ice cube tray.

The problem of ejecting ice cubes from an ice cube tray has led to the design of various types of cube forming grids for the trays which have different arrangements for releasing the cubes from the tray when desired. Quite commonly, the grids are provided with pivoted operating handles which must be actuated manually to release the cubes. None of these arrangements has been entirely satisfactory, particularly because of the inconvenience associated with actuating the operating handle. Quite often the handle itself gets coated with ice, which must be removed first before the handle can be actuated. Also, in many instances considerable manual force must be applied to the operating handle in order to release the cubes, and this factor plus the coldness of the handle cause substantial inconvenience to the user.

These disadvantages are avoided in the present invention, which has novel provision for the release of the ice cubes from the tray in an easy, convenient manner. In accordance with the present invention there is provided a bracket shaped and dimensioned to receive an inverted ice cube tray. One of the crosspieces on the cube-forming grid in the tray has protrusions which engage the bracket as the tray is slid along the bracket. These protrusions coact with the bracket so as to operate the grid to release the cubes, which may drop into a container located below the bracket. The only action required of the user is to slide the inverted tray along the bracket. The cubes are then released automatically by the coaction between the grid and the bracket as the tray is slid along the bracket.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved arrangement for ejecting ice cubes from an ice cube tray.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a novel arrangement for ejecting ice cubes from a tray which is quite convenient to use and which requires very little physical exertion on the part of the user.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel arrangement for ejecting ice cubes from a tray which is particularly well adapted to be incorporated in a domestic refrigerator.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a novel arrangement for ejecting ice cubes from a tray which is rugged and fool-proof in operation, and which is relatively simple in construction and thus may be manufactured economically.

Other and further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is an end View showing the cube ejector bracket mounted on the underside of the evaporator tates PatentC) compartment of a refrigerator and receiving an inverted ice cube tray;

Figure 2 is a section along the line 2-2 in Fig. 1 which shows the position of the cube tray, as it is slid along the bracket, just before the cube ejecting action takes place;

Figure 3 is a similar view showing the position of the parts at the completion of the cube ejecting operation;

Figure 4 is a longitudinal view of the tray guide on one side of the bracket;

Figure 5 is a cross-section through this tray guide, taken along the line 55 in Fig. 4; and

Figure 6 is an end view of the tray guide of Fig; 4, taken along the line 66 in Fig. 4.

Referring to Fig. 1, a conventional refrigerator is provided with an evaporator compartment 11 which normally receives the ice cube trays and which may serve as the compartment for frozen foods. Secured to the underside of this compartment is an elongated inverted. U-shaped open frame 12, which presents spaced, parallel, vertical sides 12a and 12b extending down below the bottom wall of the evaporator compartment. Guide members 13 and 14 are rigidly secured to the inner faces of the depending sides 12a and 12b of the frame 12 at their lower ends. The frame 12 and the attached guide members 13, 14 make up an inverted U-shaped bracket which is open at the front of the refrigerator and which is shaped and dimensioned to receive an inverted ice cube tray, as shown in Fig. 1.

Each guide member on the bracket is formed with an elongated horizontal channel 15 adjacent at its upper end for receiving the beaded top side edge 16 of the inverted ice cube tray 18. With this arrangement the inverted ice cube tray may be inserted onto the bracket from the front of the refrigerator and slid lengthwise along the channels 15 back into the refrigerator, with each beaded top side edge 16 of the tray riding along the upwardly facing shoulder 17 at the guide channel 15 on the corresponding guide member of the bracket.

The ice cube tray 18 (Fig. 2) contains a cube-forming grid having a plurality of spaced cross plates 1923 which are connected to a pair of longitudinally extending separators to make a plurality of cube-shaped receptacles within the tray. Each of the longitudinal separators is of two-piece construction, consisting of a lower, vertically disposed plate 46' disposed within the tray 18 and extending the full length of the tray, and a shorter upper plate 41 which is slideable along the top edge 42 of plate 49. The bottom edge 43 of plate 40 normally engages the bottom wall 18a of tray 18. Each plate 4-0 is provided with tabs 44 and 45 at each end which project through apertures 48 in the opposite end walls of the tray to retain the grid within the tray when it is inverted. These apertures are sufiiciently larger than the tabs so as to permit limited displacement of each separator plate 43 vertically within the tray.

Each of the cross plates 19-23 is provided with a pair of laterally spaced narrow vertical openings, closed at each end, which receive the respective pairs of separator plates 40 and 41. In the upright position of the tray, the upper edges of these openings in the cross plates 1923 are received loosely in slots 19c, 20c, 21c, 22c and 23c formed in each slideable plate 41. In this manner, the slideable plates 41 physically connect the cross plates 19-23 to one another.

Each of the lower separator plates 40 is formed with a series of pairs of spaced, struck out protrusions 46 and 47 which project out to one side of that plate. These protrusions are positioned to be engaged by the respective cross plates 19-23 of the grid so as to define limit stops for these cross plates. In the normal position of the parts (when the tray contains ice cubes), the cross plates19-23 of the grid engage the protrusions 46, as shown in Fig. 2.

The cross piece 19 near one end of the grid has protruding ears 19a and 1%, which project beyond the respective sides of the tray, as best seen in Fig. 1. The ears 19a and 1% are disposed a predetermined distance below top side edges 16 of the tray when the tray is inverted. When the inverted tray is first inserted onto the bracket, these cars ride along the respective elongated, horizontal, downwardly facing bottom guide wall portions 24 of the guide members 13 and 14. Each of these bottom wall portions 24 at the front end of the bracket terminates in an upwardly and forwardly sloped portion 25, which facilitates the initial insertion of the inverted tray onto the bracket. The horizontal guide wall portions 24 are disposed below the channels 15 the same distance as the spacing between the ears 19a, 1% on the grid cross plate 19 and the corresponding top side edge -16 of the tray. Toward the inner, rear end of the bracket the bottom walls 24 merge smoothly with downwardly and rearwardly inclined wall portions 26, which at their inner ends merge with horizontal wall portions 27 terminating at vertical abutments 28. The horizontal wall portions 27 are spaced below the corresponding channels 15 a distance greater than the spacing between each protruding ear 19a, 1917 on the grid and the corresponding top side edge 16 of the inverted tray.

As the tray is slid along the bracket, the ears 19a and 19b on the grid cross-plate 19 ride along the horizontal wall portions 24, and thence across the downwardly in clined wall portions 26 and the horizontal wall portions 27 until they engage the respective abutments 28. With the inverted tray continuing to slide horizontally along the bracket channels 15, the grid is tilted down away from the bottom 18a of the tray as the cross-plate ears 19a and 19b ride across the wall portions 26 and 27. Then, after these cross-plate ears engage the abutments 28 and the tray continues to be pushed to the left in Fig. 3, the grid cross-plate 19 pivots counter-clockwise. This causes each separator plate 41 to slide to the right in Fig. 3 across the edge 42 of the corresponding separator plate 40 in the tray, moving the other cross-plates 2023 counter-clockwise in this figure substantially in unison with such movement of cross-plate 19. This action of the grid cross-plates releases the ice cubes, which drop from the inverted tray into an underlying container 29 on the next shelf 30 in the refrigerator (Fig. 1). The cube-ejecting movement of the grid cross-plates 1923 is limited by the respective protrusions 47 on the separator plates 40, as shown in Fig. 3. The tabs 44, 45 on the separator plates 40 of the grid retain the grid in the inverted tray when the ice cubes are released as described.

Each of the guide members 14 on the bracket is formed with a segment 31, which projects forward from the abutment 28 in spaced relation below the wall portions 26 and 27. Each of these segments 31 terminates at its forward end in an upwardly protruding lip 32. The segments 31 and the overlying wall portions 26 and 27 define a pocket 33 on each guide member in which the corresponding protruding ear 19a or 1% of cross-plate 19 is received when the above described action takes place.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the present invention provides a rugged, relatively simple structure which is capable of effecting release of the ice cubes from the tray with a minimum of effort on the part of the operator. All the operator has to do is push the tray along the bracket; the rest is automatic. Therefore, very little physical exertion and no inconvenient manipulation by the user are required for the present invention to function in the desired manner.

trated in the accompanying drawing a specific preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is to be under'- stood that various modifications, omissions and refinerrients which depart from the disclosed embodiment may be adopted without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

We claim:

I. A bracket for the removal of ice cubes from an ice cube tray containing a cube-forming grid, said bracket having guide means for guiding an inverted tray for sliding movement along the bracket, and said bracket having a portion positioned to be engaged by the grid to operate the grid to release the ice cubes as the tray is slid along the bracket.

2. A bracket for the removal of ice cubes from an inverted ice cube tray containing a cube-forming grid having interconnected cross-pieces which are movable rel- .ative to the tray to release the ice cubes, said bracket comprising spaced sides having guide means for guiding the inverted tray for sliding movement along the bracket, and abutment means on the bracket positioned to be engaged by one of the cross-pieces of the grid to restram the latter against continued movement with the tray as the tray is slid further along the bracket to thereby effect relative movement between the tray and the cross-p1eces of the grid for the release of ice cubes.

3. A bracket for the removal of ice cubes from an ice cube tray containing a cube-forming grid having interconnected cross-pieces which are movable relative to the tray to release the ice cubes, said bracket being shaped and dimensioned to receive the ice cube tray in its 1nverted position and comprising spaced sides having longitudinal guide means for receiving the top side edges of the inverted tray to guide the tray for sliding movement along the bracket, each side of the bracket also having a longitudinal guide wall disposed below the corresponding guide means and having a portion extending parallel to said guide means toward the outer end of the bracket, each said guide wall toward the inner end of the bracket having a portion which extends inward away from firstmentioned portion and which diverges away from said guide means on that side of the bracket, and each such guide wall on the bracket terminating at its inner end at a transverse abutment.

4. In combination, an ice cube tray containing a cubeforming grid movable relative to the tray to release the ice cubes, and a bracket shaped and dimensioned to receive the tray in inverted position, said bracket having guide means for guiding the inverted tray for sliding movement along the bracket, and means on the bracket positioned to be engaged by the grid to operate the grid to release the ice cubes as the inverted tray slides along the bracket.

5. In combination, an ice cube tray containing a. cube-forming grid having interconnected cross-pieces which are movable relative to the tray to release the ice cubes, and a bracket shaped and dimensioned to receive the tray in inverted position, said bracket comprising spaced sides having guide means for guiding the inverted tray for sliding movement along the bracket, and abutment means on the bracket positioned to be engaged by one of the cross-pieces of the grid to restrain the latter against continued movement with the tray as the tray is slid further along the bracket to thereby effect relative movement between the tray and the cross-pieces of the grid for the release of the ice cubes.

6. In combination, an ice cube tray containing a cubeforming grid having interconnected cross-pieces which are movable with respect to the tray to release the ice cubes, one of said cross-pieces having protrusions projecting outward at either side of the tray below the respective top side edges of the tray when the tray is inverted, and a bracket shaped and dimensioned to receive the inverted tray, said bracket having spaced depending sides pro- I While there has been described in detail and illus- (If; guide means for receiving the respective top side edges of the inverted tray as the tray is slid along the bracket, each of said sides also presenting a guide wall disposed below said guide means and positioned to be engaged by the corresponding protrusions on said one cross-piece of the grid as the tray is slid along the bracket, each of said guide walls toward its inner end having a portion which diverges down away from said guide means for forcing the grid down away from the tray as the tray is slid along the bracket, and each of said guide walls terminating at its inner end at a transverse downwardly extending abutment for engagement by the corresponding protrusions on said one cross-piece of the grid to restrain the grid against continued movement with the tray as the tray is slid further along the bracket to thereby efiect relative movement between the grid and the tray for releasing the ice cubes.

7. A bracket for the removal of ice cubes from an ice cube tray containing a cube-forming grid having interconnected cross-pieces which are movable relative to the tray to release the ice cubes, said bracket being shaped and dimensioned to receive the ice cube tray in its inverted position and having spaced depending sides which present horizontal channels extending lengthwise along said sides for receiving the respective top side edges of the inverted tray, each of said sides also presenting a longitudinal guide wall below the channel in that side, each said guide wall having a horizontal portion extend ing inward away from the outer end of the bracket and disposed a predetermined distance below the channel in that side, said horizontal portion of each guide wall terminating at its inner end at a downwardly and inwardly inclining wall segment, said inclined segment on each guide wall terminating at its inner end at a further horizontal segment of the guide wall disposed farther than said predetermined distance below the channel in that side, and said further horizontal segment on each guide wall terminating at its inner end at a downwardly extending transverse abutment.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

